The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers
to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is
provided by the
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you
manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can
be found on the NDLTD website.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Sociology.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 402-417). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29526

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-128).

This thesis explores contemporary anarchism, in its re-emergence as a social movement and political theory over the past decade. Its method combines cultural sociology and philosophical argumentation, in a participatory research framework. The first part, "Explaining Anarchism", argues that it should be addressed primarily as a political culture, with distinct forms of organisation, of campaigning and direct action repertoires, and of political discourse and ideology. Largely discontinuous with the historical workers' and peasants' anarchist movement, contemporary anarchism has fused in the intersection of radical direct-action movements in the North since the 1960s: feminism, ecology, and the resistance to nuclear energy and weapons, war, and neoliberal globalisation. Anarchist ideological discourse is analysed with attention to key concepts such as "domination" and "prefigurative politics", emphasising the avowedly open-ended, experimental nature of the anarchist project. The second part, "Anarchist Anxieties", is a set of theoretical interventions in four major topics of controversy in anarchism today. Leadership in anarchist politics is addressed through sustained attention to the concept of power, proposing an agenda for equalising access to influence among activists, and an "ethic of solidarity" around the wielding of non-coercive power. Violence is approached through a recipient-based definition of the concept, exploring the limits of any attempt to justify violence and offering observations on violent empowerment, revenge and armed struggle. Technology is subject to a strong anarchist critique, which stresses its inherently social nature, leading to the exploration of Luddism, the disillusioned use of ICTs, and the promotion of lo-tech, sustainable human-nature interfaces as strategical directions for an anarchist politics of technology. Finally, the lens of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is used to address anarchist dilemmas around national liberation, exploring anarchist responses in conflict-ridden societies, and direct action approaches to peacemaking.

This thesis approaches anarchist organisation in practical and revolutionary terms. Its theme is Kropotkin's conception of the relationship between the end of anarchy and the process of anarchist transformation. The thesis examines this relationship as a continuous theoretical development, questioning the existing interpretations of his thought which identify a revision of his ideas in his formulation of the theory of mutual aid. It finds that these interpretations of his work are mistaken and based on a misunderstanding of his use of Darwinian evolutionary theory. Rejecting the beliefs that Kropotkin's scientific anarchism is based either on a desire to prove the necessity of anarchy or to replace revolution with a process of gradual evolutionary reform, the thesis suggests that questions of strategy have a secondary importance in his work. Kropotkin's anarchism is directed toward securing moral behaviour by restructuring society. Rejecting the alleged discontinuity of his thought, the thesis acknowledges that there are differences between Kropotkin's early and late writings. In his early work, Kropotkin's understanding of anarchist organisation is based on a commitment to communism and on an expectation of revolution. In the theory of mutual aid Kropotkin subordinates communism to an ideal of community and resolves the problem of change by the force of his scientific ideology. But his conrmitment to anarchy is affirmed. Formulating the concept of mutual aid, the thesis finds that Kropotkin uses science as a theoretical incentive, promising practical and spiritual well-being, for the masses to hasten the realisation of the anarchist society. In conclusion the thesis reviews the existing interpretations of Kropotkin's commitment to Victorian positivism and suggests that his adherence to the standards of natural scientific research are compromised by the radicalism of his liberatory desires.